Finally Ready
by Dara Tavar
Summary: Rachel doesn't want to give up - it's not her style. She knows she has to find the will to fight, to live...and that's when she sees him. David is there to help her, though she's not sure how its possible. Another short story, and (again) not much I can say without giving away the whole story. So R&R and let me know how the story is!


**Alright, so this is only slightly longer than the other story that I just wrote for The Debt (I've had them both planned for months, and tonight I decided to write them-I'm hoping to write several short stories tonight if I can). This deals with the end of the movie when Rachel and Vogel fight. Nothing else to say. Enjoy!  
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**Finally Ready**

Rachel felt the knife bite into her stomach, shoved in deeper by Vogel's pressing hand. She jerked and then fell still, unmoving on the floor. Even when Vogel climbed to his feet, began to stagger away, she continued to remain still. Pain slowly spread out from her body and she curled in on herself slightly, growing still once more when the knife bit deeper into her stomach.

He collapsed to the floor several feet away from her, dead from the needle Rachel had gotten in his back.

Rachel considered pulling the knife out, considered getting to her feet and moving away from Vogel's dead body. She didn't want to be found next to him, right? But she couldn't find the energy, the motivation to move though. She could feel everything draining from her body, including her will to live.

But that wasn't Rachel—she fought, and she never gave up.

Getting to her feet, she pulled the knife free and dropped it on the floor. Stumbling forward, she lifted her gaze only to come face-to-face with David. He moved forward, slipping an arm around her and helping her to continue walking.

Tears fell from her eyes as Rachel stared up into his handsome face. "How is it possible, David?" she whispered to him, lifting a hand to gently touch his face, almost like she feared he would disappear. They drew to a halt in the hallway, standing there with his arm around her and her clinging to him as if to keep him from slipping away from her again. "How can you be here with me? You died—Stephen told me that you were hit by a car…"

He returned with a tender smile, brushing his fingers over her cheek. "I am dead, my love. But sometimes the people you knew come back to help you when it's your time…" he trailed off, leaving her to figure out what he was meaning.

Suddenly, Rachel realized that the pain she'd felt from the knife wound had completely disappeared and she was no longer relying on David to help her stand, but was instead just holding her in his arms.

As she looked into his loving eyes, he slowly began to change. The face that she'd seen the last time when he'd been living transformed into the one she knew so well from when they'd been young and she'd first fallen in love with him. Before her very eyes, that face she'd spent so long dreaming of and the eyes that had haunted her constantly looked back at her.

Forcing her eyes away from him, she looked back the way she'd come. To her surprise, she found that her body lay crumpled on the floor not far behind them. Lifting her hands before her face, she found that her skin was youthful once more. Touching her face, she found smooth, silky skin instead of wrinkled and rough. She didn't notice when David's hands fell away from her.

When she looked to the doorway they'd been headed towards, she found that instead of leading into the next wing of the hospital, there was a bright light on the other side and nothing to indicate that it would lead to the wing that she'd come from while chasing Vogel.

Returning her eyes to David, she found him standing a couple feet from her, moving between her and the doorway as he held a hand out to her. "Are you finally ready to go with me? Finally ready to spend an eternity together?" he asked her. "It's not too late for you to go back…all you have to do is return to your body and get back up. You'll still have plenty of time to get out of here before anyone finds Vogel. But just know that I'll be waiting for you when you're finally ready to come with me."

With a bright smile and happiness welling up inside her for the first time in a long time, she placed her hand in his and gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze. "I think I've left you, and myself, waiting long enough. I'm more than ready now," she replied in a youthful voice before they turned and walked hand-in-hand through the doorway leading into the light…


End file.
